Chrysanthemum
by cryptic.kaffee
Summary: The Western countries have allowed their people to invade East Asia; namely China. Yao constantly worries for his younger brother's safety, he refuses to allow anyone to pose any breed of threat toward Japan. Nothing else matters to him more than Kiku. Brotherly ChuNi/NiChu


Heart-wrenching panic surged through China's rapidly pounding heart. His pulse only quickened and ran to his fingertips, forcing the feeling of sick worry up his spine.

No. He wasn't here.

No, no, no!

"Kiku!" Yao cried desperately, panic muffling the currently submissive and more rational part of his mind. He raced, his bare feet pounding against the hardwood floor of his home, toward a dimly lit corner of the room.

China knew that the spot was one of Japan's favorite places to play and hide in when he thought his caretaker wasn't looking; maybe the little nation would be there.

Yao felt his knees touch the floor as he knelt down beside a lumpy-looking blanket laying messily on the surface of a plain white rag. He had to be here. There was nowhere else his brother could be.

"Kiku," he whispered again, gently. "Kiku, are you there? Please, Xiao yi, that's enough play for today." China felt his knuckles tighten and turn white as he reached out toward the splayed cloth expectantly. Any time now. Come on, didi…

A frustrated and scared cry escaped Yao's lips, and his features twisted in aggravation at the completely empty blue material. Empty as in there was no certain small Japanese country resting there.

He desperately tried to rack his brains; tried to recall any place that his Japan found precious, sacred, or important to him. No fresh thoughts came to mind. He had already checked the gardens, (where he and Kiku would plant chrysanthemums) the well, (China wasn't completely sure why, but the child seemed to have an obsession with how 'deep' the water went) the burial grounds, of course…. Kiku always went there to calm himself in hard times. China was told by his kid brother that he liked to visit his mother there.

Yao felt a crack start in his chest, and an unfamiliar moistness start in his eyes at the memory. He had tried to tell the poor child that countries could not have parents. Every nation was born human and whole into the arms of their own mothers and fathers, but they would instantly die off the second their own offspring had been delivered into the cruel clutches of fate.

China wasn't sure how such an awful system worked. Only that it supplied good results in the chosen young, picked out of millions of others to represent their new country.

To die for their people. A sacrificial offering to the unnamed Gods.

Such a thing was so cold-blooded and harsh, so atrocious and unfair, but it had to be done. Yao didn't want to explain this part of being a country to Japan yet, though. He was still so young and innocent. He deserved to know the truth….but, only when he was ready.

China had told himself that he was doing the right thing. Fate surely could not become angry towards such a small detail in a large factor of a country's life. He would understand, he had to. Too pure and care-free to have such a burden as knowledge weigh down on his shoulders at such an age. He was still budding, still in his youth and trying to find his own route to glory.

His thoughts were pushed away from the hard road his Kiku was sure to follow one day, and back to his present situation. A new kind of worry once again flooded his senses as his mind focused in on his original goal.

'Find didi,' he thought to himself. 'Worry about the future later, you decrepit old fool.'

Getting mechanically to his feet once again, China wrapped the old baby blanket around his arm carefully. He crossed his arms tightly across his chest as he stepped outside into the lightly falling snow.

Yao's sharp breaths came out in gray fogs that clashed with matching smoky sky. China kicked through the snow with an expression of utmost worry, and glazed eyes clashing oddly with his face.

He hated Kiku going out so late at night or early in the morning, especially in the present situation his whole country was stuck in. every day Yao would worry and constantly check on Japan to make sure nothing had happened to him.

China knew his regular presence did annoy the tiny country a bit, but, Kiku never really showed it or actually _told _him. But Yao had to keep daily look out over him! He treasured his brother very much, and would NOT allow the foreign barbarians crossing into his borders to even touch Japan.

He would even give his own life to save the other. The Western countries had been allowing their own people to occupy Asia, and those pieces of worthless scum had not unthinkable things to his own people. Yao's patience for the activity already unfurling within him he could handle, but he would tolerate no violence toward his family.

China was snapped from his fuming thoughts as he felt something cold and…._pink _touch the bridge of his nose. Vibrations surged through his body as the little leaf tickled his skin, as though intent to make him laugh.

In spite of himself, Yao couldn't help but chortle as a sneeze racked at his very limbs, making the small petal shoot from him and off toward the clouded sky. He didn't want to pay too much attention to the weather, seeing as he needed his kin brother to be his very first priority. But it was still difficult for his mind not to stray; he inwardly wondered how a sakura tree (which he guessed was the breed of vegetation the leaflet had belonged to) could grow and be at full bloom in such a time as this. The middle of winter, and in such frosty weather.

His eyes went from glossy and unfocused to intent and sharp in a matter of seconds as he heard muffled cries rip through the air.

"Yao-san! Yao-san!"

Kiku.

Was that Kiku…?

"Kiku!" he bellowed hysterically. Adrenaline flooded his senses as he wasted no time in racing toward the increasingly growing volumes of yelling.

His heart still pounded wildly as he realized that the sounds were most definitely Japan's, but they didn't sound scared or hurt. They sounded…_happy._

Snow and ice flew up unyieldingly around his now freezing and completely unprotected feet. The ice bit harshly at his skin. He didn't care though. That voice was the only thing keeping him running.

His hold on the ground became increasingly unsteady as his gait increased in speed, and he slipped and slid wildly on the icy ground.

The calls stopped at once as Yao rapidly turned a corner and bolted toward the side of a very much alone, and small country.

Japan turned toward the sound of panting, and instinctively flinched as snow cascaded over him. A very rare grin brought itself over Kiku's features as he saw his caretaker, though.

"Yao-nii," he whispered excitedly, his dark eyes sparkling and bringing out the unusual flecks of green within them. "Yao-nii, you'll never believe what I found in the-" Japan was cut off and stuttered awkwardly as he was pulled into a bear-hug from China, the older country cradling him and wrapping his arms tightly around the other as though he intended to never let go.

Yao pressed his cooled lips up to the child's forehead and pulled Kiku into his lap, wrapping the blanket he had brought along with around Japan so that he looked like a caterpillar in a cocoon. Japan blinked, confused, as he heard China mutter what sounded like a lullaby under his breath.

Kiku squirmed restlessly in his older brother's arms as he tried to free himself from the other's clutches. China did not budge, and Japan inwardly cursed himself for being so small.

"Yao-nii," he whined, a bit of a pout forming on his flushed face. "Please, let go… What are you so afraid of? Nobody else is even here…" At those last words China took a deep, shuddering breath, and stared at Kiku intently.

Yao let his gaze become softer as he saw his sibling shift uncomfortably under his not-at-all-mild-scrutiny.

"Kiku," he began sternly, Japan gave China big doe-eyes as he sensed a lecture coming. Yap's lips twitched, trying hard not to smile. "What have I told you about going out during the times of morning and night whenever I'm not with you to keep you safe? You know how I feel about that, Japan."

It was true that Yao had specifically told his didi to never go out after dark or before the sun had fully risen, but sometimes China felt like Kiku never listened to him. He could never tell what Japan was thinking with his normally expressionless gaze.

Kiku didn't get a chance to defend himself though, as Yao unexpectedly grinned, (he was so relieved to find his brother whole) and bumped the micro-nation up in his arms. Japan, thinking that China was about to throw him in the air, (he **had **done it before) held on tightly with his eyes shut tensely. Yao noticed his sibling's stiffness, and his smile only grew. He laughed care-freely, and spun the now giggling (but still shocked) country around like a carousal.

"China!" Japan gasped breathlessly, tears streaming out of his eyes from the freezing air hitting them. "Yao-nii, s-slow down!" Kiku laughed again, almost snorting. Yao squeezed his younger brother around the stomach playfully, wanting to make him puff again.

"Promise you won't go outside or anywhere near the village, and I will consider it…" he said lowly, trying to appear intimidating but ruining the affect by smiling.

"I-I…"

"Come on, Kiku"

"Yes, Yao-nii!"

Finally losing it, Japan burst out into righteous howls as China lost his footing on a stray piece of ice, and tripped clumsily into the ground. Kiku gripped extra tightly onto the Chinese man so that he wouldn't go flying into the snow.

"You have very good coordination, Yao-chan."

"Uhhh…"

Yao rubbed his head where it had braced impact with the Earth, very happy to find that there was no apparent bruise. He groaned slightly, and put his head back down in a state of exhaustion as Kiku started to crawl up his chest and lay there, unmoving. He was a lot heavier than you would have thought an underdeveloped nation should be.

"Get off, didi," China mumbled, gently moving to push Japan off of him. "That's enough tiring me out for today." He was getting to old for this.

Kiku again titted brightly, eyes shining. Yao peeked toward the Japanese, not wanting to waste this moment of unusual contentment between them. "But Yao-Chan," he said sneakily, "I still had something to show you." China unconsciously nodded, not sure if he wanted to know where this was going. He could at least use this excuse to get Japan off him, or at least, his weight.

"Err, shi, Kiku. What…what exactly was it that you wanted to show me?"

Japan looked like he was about to burst with excitement. He moved back onto the icy ground nonchalantly, looking as though the freezing temperatures didn't bother him in the least. China propped himself up on both of his wrists to get a better look at Kiku's small, closed fist.

"This," he whispered, opening his hand to reveal a blur of yellow-red that made Yao gasp, and quickly move on his knees to get a better look.

A chrysanthemum. A flower in full bloom, and completely intact in Japan's hold.

China wondered at the back of his mind how he had not seen his brother's palm closed so firmly that whole time he swung him around. "Kiku," he murmured, entranced. "You remembered this was my favorite flower?" Japan nodded proudly, obviously happy at his caretaker's reaction. Yao looked down again. The petals were a dark burgundy, colliding gracefully into the golden body of the rest of its form. Its stem was entirely covered with clear ice, looking like it was wearing a completely transparent vest.

China twirled the chrysanthemum freely in his long fingers as he beamed at Kiku, who bounced back towards his senior. Yao pulled the tiny country into a bone-crushing hug, and blushed noticeably when Japan nuzzled their cold noses together.

"Yao-nii?" Kiku coughed into his sleeve after a moment, looking up.

"Yes?"

"I'm cold."

China inwardly sighed as the reappearance of old Japan surfaced once again. Kiku's eyes dulled in their exhilarating shine, but Yao could still see the heat and breath of glee in him.

Yao shook the now ice-covered blanket to the side, trying to remove the icicles that had clustered around its edges, and wrapped it snugly around a flushed Japan. He chuckled slightly as he saw Kiku bury his cold face immediately into the material, but squinted against it as it wasn't warm like he had expected. He was so cute, and China had a weakness for cute things.

"Alright then, didi," he said softly, and got to his feet awkwardly. He put the back side of his hand against Japan's forehead, feeling its warmth despite the sub-zero temperatures around them. A sly grin twisted itself on his face as a truly devious plan came to mind.

"You seem warm, Kiku. I think you're getting a cold; when we get back inside I'll fix up a mix of those herbs I know you _love _so much." Japan's reaction was immediate. He snapped his head up to China's eyes in disbelief.

"Nononononono! I'm fine!"

China made a noise of disbelief under his breath. "I don't know, Kiku. Better safe than sorry."

"Ack! There is nothing wrong! I hate the medicine! I'm completely healthy!"

China laughed and teased his arguing little brother as he stepped again and again into ankle-deep frost; neither flinching or stopping as ice surrounded his feet. He could see their home up ahead. It felt good to say that…it was _theirs._

'_I will always be there for you, didi. No matter what lengths between us stretch; you will always be my little brother.'_


End file.
